This highly captivating book takes readers on a journey through the history of classical music. However, author and music educator Vincent Sneed demonstrates that this history does not begin in Europe, but instead, the origins of classical music reside in places such as Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Sneed details how the music of composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven would never have existed if it had not been the ingenuity and innovation of black and brown people. Sneed also ...

"In this one-of-a-kind celebration of singing with others, I'd call her pitch nearly perfect." —The AtlanticFor Stacy Horn, regardless of what is going on in the world or her life, singing in an amateur choir—the Choral Society of Grace Church in New York—never fails to take her to a place where hope reigns and everything good is possible. She's not particularly religious, and her voice is not exceptional (so she says), but like the 32.5 million other choru...

(Keyboard Instruction). Legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson has long been devoted to the education of piano students. In this book he offers dozens of pieces designed to empower the student, whether novice or classically trained, with the technique needed to become an accomplished jazz pianist.

In The Devil's Horn, Michael Segell traces the 160-year history of the saxophone-a horn that created a sound never before heard in nature, and that from the moment it debuted has aroused both positive and negative passions among all who hear it. The saxophone has insinuated itself into virtually every musical idiom that has come along since its birth as well as into music with traditions thousands of years old. But it has also been controversial, viewed as a symbol of decadence, i...

When Jimi Hendrix transfixed the crowds of Woodstock with his gripping version of "The Star Spangled Banner," he was building on a foundation reaching back, in part, to the revolutionary guitar playing of Howlin' Wolf and the other great Chicago bluesmen, and to the Delta blues tradition before him. But in its unforgettable introduction, followed by his unaccompanied "talking" guitar passage and inserted calls and responses at key points in the musical narrative, Hendrix's performance of t...

From the critically acclaimed author of Temperament, a narrative account of the most defining moments in musical history—classical and jazz—all of which forever altered Western culture"A fascinating journey that begins with the origins of musical notation and travels through the centuries reaching all the way to our time.”—Semyon Bychkov, chief conductor and music director of the Czech PhilharmonicThe invention of music notation by...

(Keyboard Instruction). A short easy method for learning to play boogie woogie, designed for the beginner and average pianist. Includes: exercises for developing left-hand bass * 25 popular boogie woogie bass patterns * arrangements of "Down the Road a Piece" and "Answer to the Prayer" by well-known pianists * a glossary of musical terms for dynamics, tempo and style.

The love song is timeless. From its beginnings, it has been shaped by bohemians and renegades, slaves and oppressed minorities, prostitutes, immigrants and other excluded groups. But what do we really know about the origins of these intimate expressions of the heart? And how have our changing perceptions about topics such as sexuality and gender roles changed our attitudes towards these songs? In Love Songs: The Hidden History, Ted Gioia uncovers the unexplored story of the love s...

This book was designed for use in a one-semester dance appreciation survey class. As such, I have attempted to limit the information provided to that which can be covered comfortably. This means that many noteworthy choreographers and dancers do not appear in this text. Teachers may wish to add other important contributors to the art of dance, particularly in Chapters five, six, and seven.Tami M. White is an adjunct faculty member with the Dance Department at Old Dominion Universit...

These lively, informative essays, all related to music, are as accessible as a chatty bedside reader.A central theme is listener response, and the techniques and structures that mold it.The story starts with sound waves, the ear, and the brain.Did song come before speech?Was it a factor in evolution?Some think singing helps complete the wiring of that organic work-in-progress, the infant brain.Check out the frequency doubling that built our familiar scale.Learn where the wo...

A lively, engaging guide to music around the world, from prehistory to the presentHuman beings have always made music. Music can move us and tell stories of faith, struggle, or love. It is common to all cultures across the world. But how has it changed over the millennia?Robert Philip explores the extraordinary history of music in all its forms, from our earliest ancestors to today’s mass-produced songs. This is a truly global story. Looking to Europe, Sout...

John Adams is one of the most respected and loved of contemporary composers, and "he has won his eminence fair and square: he has aimed high, he has addressed life as it is lived now, and he has found a language that makes sense to a wide audience" (Alex Ross, The New Yorker). Now, in Hallelujah Junction, he incisively relates his life story, from his childhood to his early studies in classical composition amid the musical and social ferment of the 1960s, from his landmar...